


Day Three- Watching a Movie

by quartermasterandhisagent



Series: 30 Day OTP Challenge [3]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 11:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1776955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartermasterandhisagent/pseuds/quartermasterandhisagent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Q is certain minding after a certain double-oh isn't in his job description. He's checked. Twice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day Three- Watching a Movie

Q can hardly believe his luck. Bond gets shot  _again_ , and suddenly it is Q's job to keep the man company? He hardly knows what to say, other than he is certain his predecessor was never tasked with this job. Flying off to far-off places to bring specialised tech, or sending the CIA to get him out of a pinch? Sure. Being sent home early to make sure double-oh seven didn't drink himself to death or set anything on fire out of sheer boredom or some kind of inferiority complex is definitely not in the job description. He checks. Twice.

 "I am certain Bond is capable of managing his own schedule, Moneypenny," Q bristles. "Besides," he continues, "It isn't as if the idiot doesn't get injured on a fairly regular basis." As soon as Q says this, he regrets it. It is hardly fair of him to say it, especially since he knows that it isn't wholly true. In the last eight months, Bond has sustained significantly less injuries. A string of top-level security clearance only missions has taken its toll on the agent however, and James has seen a brief return to his previous rates despite Q's best intentions otherwise.

"Be that as it may, you have both put in  _far_  too many hours lately. Accounting will have M's head if they have to authorize any more overtime for the two of you in the foreseeable future," Moneypenny returned. "You're both to take the weekend off, and do something other than wreak havoc on the budgets. She gives him that  _look_  as she hands over a stack of paperwork that needs to be completed by Monday, before walking away. It is the same look that she gives him every time Bond is mentioned anything less than a professional capacity, and he still has no idea what it means.

As the end of the regular work day draws near, Q finds himself increasingly anxious. Tanner stops by a few hours after Moneypenny to inform him that Bond is to spend the weekend with Q, and will be stopping by Q Branch to pick him at five o'clock. They aren't to return any earlier than eight forty-five Monday morning. There aren't any pressing R&D deadlines, no double-ohs, or even field agents, requiring exceptionally detailed support, and yet Q can't pull himself away.

 If Q is being honest with himself, it's less about taking the weekend off -- which he has been planning to do for quite some time, and just hasn't gotten around to it--and more about the prospect of spending an entire weekend in the company of  _James Bond_. He doubts the man would be so childish as to flout authority, especially since there really isn't a point to be made, but Q can't imagine he is compelling company. 

 "Q," Bond says. Q startles. He hadn't heard the other man approach,  _damn him_. "Mallory sent me here to accompany you for the weekend. He mentioned something about making sure you didn't work yourself to death." Bond clearly hasn't received the same message as Q has.

 Q sighs audibly. "Right, let me just finish up handing things over. I'll meet you out front in ten." Only then does Q permit himself a glance. Bond is dressed impeccably of course, as if he is being sent on any other mission. He however is carrying a smallish leather travel bag that Q has never seen.

 "Of course," Bond returns smoothly, before heading out of Q branch.

 

*                                                                                     *                                                      *

 

"Not what I was expecting," Bond says as Q pushes through the doorway, setting his bag and mail on the end table.

Q snorts. "As you may recall, double-oh seven, my security has been compromised on  _more than one_  occasion recently. I just moved in, and haven't had much chance to unpack. I didn't pick the location anyway. Moneypenny wasn't satisfied with the last building, after you broke in so easily last time." Q glares at him, setting the alarm as Bond finally passes through the doorway.

Bond just shrugs. "M didn't have to move, and I never had to tail either of you," he replies easily. Q pretends not to notice when James checks for another exit (there isn't one) and checks the windows (locked, shades half drawn as they had been since the day Q moved in).

Q doesn't say anything either, instead opting to pull out the stack of takeout menus and begin flipping through them. He isn't really hungry, but he isn't quite ready to face the backlog of paperwork that might actually take him all weekend to complete either. He continues to do so, pretending to be indecisive until Bond joins him, taking the opposite end of the couch. He is guest after all, so Q should probably let him choose what to order.

"So what does our enigmatic quartermaster do with his off-time?" Bond asks, once they've settled with their dinner. He seems surprisingly comfortable, and in an apparent good mood. Q had been expecting some level of awkwardness given their last extended face-to-face interaction had been escaping a German hotel after Q had been kidnapped and tied to a bed. Or perhaps irritation that Q was supposed to be babysitting him for the weekend, but evidently Bond has been told just the opposite for whatever reason.

"Mostly clean, or catch up on paperwork, or sleep. If I'm lucky I might be home long enough to read, or watch a movie. I'm sure I've got something around here to keep you occupied. If you really get desperate I've got some furniture that needs assembling, double-oh seven." Q doesn't even look up from the forms he's working on. That is until he realises Bond is just staring at him.

"What? Were you expecting some time consuming hobby or double-life, Bond? You should really know better, I spend too much of my time at HQ to have much of a life outside of MI6." Q really isn't sure what to make of the whole situation. It's weirder the longer the evening goes on, and not necessarily in a bad way either.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it. I'm sure we can agree on a movie to watch, Q," Bond says, drawing his attention to the stacks of boxes in the corner. Q has actually taken the time to set up his TV and bookcases, but he hasn't bothered with much else, so Bond has to go digging through his things to find something he finds interesting enough to watch. It's unnerving, watching James Bond dig open box after box with a surprising amount of care, and not to hear a constant stream of information about the contents as Q is accustomed to when Bond sorts through other people's things on a mission.

In the end, Bond picks a movie, but Q isn't even really paying attention at all. He isn't even able to tell what movie James has picked. He is absorbed just watching Bond, because as the evening goes on Q can tell the other man is actually beginning to relax. Tension seeps out of his shoulders, his posture less stiff and formal. He has never seen the agent not slip into a brooding mood at some point, even without the aid of a drink.

As Q turns in for the night, long after Bond has moved to that ridiculous chaise his mother had insisted on him buying, and fallen asleep, he thinks about how maybe it wasn't terrible to have some company after all. Bond isn't half as bad as the rumours at MI6 would have suggested. Maybe he won't give Mallory or Moneypenny an earful when he returns to HQ on Monday after all.


End file.
